Okay, there have been a lot of successful record labels to feature major black figures. We all know the top three, Motown at number one of course than you got Philadelphia International and STAX/Volt as 2 and 4 (interchangeable.)


So, which is the fourth, you got ...


-Bruisnwick Records: Home of Jackie Wilson, Gene Chandler among others
-King Records: James Brown, Billy Ward and the Dominoes, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John among others
Chess Records: Etta James, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Didley, ect.
-SOLAR: Whispers, Lakeside, ect.
-Curtom: Curtis Mayfield, Impressions, Leroy Hutson, Five Stairsteps, Donny Hathaway
-Vee-Jay: Dells, Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler


So, who you got?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

That's a VERY tough one! They all tie at third place.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

You do realize Vee-jay had frankie Valli and the 4 seasons and The Beatles right?

...personal preference.




tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

IAintTheOne said:

Frankie Vallie was also at Motown. Vee-Jay was a very late edition though.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Frankie valli was not a Motown artist

IAintTheOne said:

Chamelon

Hip-O-Select
[Edited 12/8/08 19:10pm]

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I was not aware they were on MoWest im allowed one

Blue Note Records

also, Paramount Records was pretty old school 20s and 30s.

Like anything in the record industry, they all have their high points and low points.
[Edited 12/8/08 20:17pm]

IAintTheOne said:

Frankie Valli had a solo deal with Motown,too but it lasted for only a short period.In the early 70s,he recorded the song "My Eyes Adored You" for Motown but they didn't like it.They refused to release it,so he left.It became a hit for him on another label.

There are so many.

Curtom would be a personal favorite of mine.
But there are so many small labels ...
Henry Stone's Cat and subsidary Glades labels (the Miami sound, Clarence Reid, Gwen McCrae, Timmy Thomas, Little Beaver, etc)
Black Jazz Records (Doug Carn, Melvin Franklin, Gene Russell)
Soul Unlimited from New Orleans. Willie Tee's Gatur Records, from New Orleans as well. Shiptown from Norfolk, VA.
James Brown's People label.
Strata East and Solid State, more great Jazz labels.
Stax subsidary Volt Records.

There's just so many, it's impossible to pick just one ..

Personally it's a tie for 4th between SOLAR and Uptown, but I'd go with SOLAR (Soul Train Records). Although they never had a standout solo artist, they had some great groups/bands on their label like The Whispers, Shalamar, Lakeside, Klymaxx, Midnight Star and artist like Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, Babyface, and Snoop got their start at SOLAR. They also had great writer/producers there like members of the Sylvers family, William Shelby, The Calloway Brothers, LA & Babyface, Dr Dre recorded Deep Cover and The Chronic at SOLAR and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (they also met engineer Steve Hodges there). The foundations of companies likes Laface Records, Yab Yum/Edmonds Entertainment, Flyte Tyme/Perspective Records, and Death Row Records starts at SOLAR.
[Edited 12/9/08 9:39am]